by Catherine Rogers
Staff Writer
Bryan College track and field team competed in Clemson (S.C.) University’s Tiger Tune Up this past Saturday where they took four top-five finishes and qualified four runners and a relay for the near NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
“We had a good weekend,” said Head Coach Rodney Stoker. “I didn’t have a lot of expectations. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on the young kids, but one of our guys, who’s been All-American a few times, was expected to win his race, and he did.”
Stoker was referring to senior Josh Bradley, who took the top spot in the men’s 800-meter race with a season best time of 1:54.36.“It was a low-key meet,” said Bradley, “but I think we came away with several solid performances that set us up nicely for Indoor Nationals at [East Tennessee State University].”
Freshman Alex Stephens and sophomore Alyssia Lindsay also put their marks on the 800-meter run, as Stephens won his heat with a personal record of 2:00.44 and Lindsay set an indoor personal best with 2:30.91.
Commenting on his freshmen runners, Stoker said, “It’s funny when [they] all run personal bests and they’re disappointed. They want to be good, and I guess that’s a pretty good problem to have.”
The 800-meter race, however, was not the only event dominated by the Lions as junior Zach Buffington and senior Daniel Goetz finished third and fourth in the men’s 3000-meter run, with Buffington clocking his qualifying time for nationals.
The Lions also took several places in the men’s mile as sophomore Bryson Harper hit his qualifying time for Nationals and raced into fifth place with freshmen Jason McLeod and Drew Thompson close behind, taking eighth and ninth, respectively.
“Our philosophy is to win,” said Stoker. “We try to teach them to be competitive and to always put themselves in a position to win the race, not always thinking about [their] time…. Through my experiences in watching our athletes, when they set a big personal best, it’s when they’ve really competed.”
Bradley’s comments show that the Lions are right on track with this philosophy as “most of the nine guys and two girls that went [to Clemson] did a workout after the meet, because [they’re] focused on nationals.”
“Two weeks from now, right before spring break, is nationals and there’s no doubt that that’s the highlight of the indoor season,” remarked Stoker. “We’re going to try to come away with some All-Americans, and if we do that, we’ll be satisfied.”